Elevator door control



Jufiy 23, 1935. Q EN 2,009,342

ELEVATOR DOOR CONTROL Filed Feb. 5, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l mli Civrz's Xi'an Ndzlsen Patented July 23, 1935 UNI- TED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

Elevator Compamn. Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application; February 5, 1931-, Serial No. 513,553

3 Claims.

This invention relates primarily to door controls and particularly to the automatic operation and control of doors usedin conjunction with automatic elevators.

The object of the present invention is to provide for the automatic opening and closing of the elevator door, afterthe elevator has; arrived at the floor level or before it leavesthe floor level in such manner that the operation of the door will be full, free and complete as well as safe.

With the above and other objects in view, as will be apparent, this invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts, all as hereinafter more fully described; claimed and illustrated, in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. l is an elevation of an: elevator car illustrating the inner-door thereof under the control. of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view: of the present control;

Fig. 3 is an, elevation thereof; and

Fig. 4 is a similar view taken from the opposite end of the control and illustrating; the: operation of the. retiring cam, controlling the: lock of the floor opening. door.

The present invention is designed; to provide for-the mechanical opening and closing of themner-door of an automatic elevator: i. e. that; doorattached to the elevator car itself,1under the control of a motor which in turn is. operated by various electrical connections and circuits which form no part of the present inventionbut which are regulatedby and from, the elevator control. Thus, when the elevator car arrives and; stops at a.- floor level the present invention is set in motion-"and willopen the door attachedqto the car, and when the car proceeds in its movement after the closing of the floordoor, the present invention, prior to any movement on the part of the car, will close the inner or car door. The present invention also controls or regulates the retiring cams which in turn release the locks of the door acting as a. closure for the floor open-inggwhereby the same may be opened. H

References being had more particularly to the drawings {0 designates an automatic elevator car provided with the collapsible door I I. This door II is provided with a cam-bar l2 which in turn controls a switch 13, whereby the circuit for the operation of the car is broken or made. 7

Mounted upon the roof of the car II! in substantial alignment with the door H is a frame It or superstructure, at one end of which is a motor l5 driving, through the medium of a flexible connection IS, a shaft l'l threaded, as at l8,

throughout a major portion of its length. This shaft I8 is journaled adjoining its ends in suitable bearings; i9, which are connected by a, bar 29;, extending, from one bearing to the other.

A block or carriage M is; mounted upon the shaft I-8 and is: provided with an interiorly threaded aperture, through which the threaded, portion W of the shaft: 1''! operates, so that'if the shaft. rotates in onev direction. the carriage it will.- travel along' the shaft lfi ina corresponding direce tion andwhen the shaft l 8 rotates in, the. oppo' site direction the movement of the carriage M will be: reversed. i

I To prevent any turning of thecarriage 21- upon the shaft i=8 and to: insure its longitudinal movement along said shaft between the bearings l9, a, series, of rollers '22 are mounted upon oneface of the carriage 2 l, two of the rollers 22, operating. upon the upper edge of bar 2 and the remaining two rollers operating along the lower edge of the, bar 20. Thus the co-operation between the rollers 22 and the bar 29, located between the two individual sets of rollers, overcomes any tend.- ency of the carriage 21' toswing in either direction. with the rotation of the shaft IS...

A U-shaped frame: 23 is secured to the, upper end ofthecarriage- 2i and at its ends is provided with vertical arms 24.

Two; parallel shafts 25 are interposed between the arms 24 of the frame 23, upon which operates, a slide 26, slidably carrying an outwardly projected stud 21. Interposed between the arms. 24, of the frame and the outer faces of the slide 26, are a series of coil springs 28, encircling the shafts 25 and so situated upon saidshafts that irrespective of the direction of the movement of the slide 25 it operates against the tension of two. of the springs 28;

Carried by the frame l4 and extending below the same in a plane, approximating the center of the threaded portion of the shaft I8, is a hanger 29 to which is pivoted medially at its ends, a lever 30.. The upper end of the lever 39 is pivot: ally connected to the stud 21 of the slide 26 and its, lower end is connected by means of the pitman 3i tothe door H. p r H Thus it will be seen, by referring to Fig. 1, that if the motor 15 operates in one direction the carriage 2! will travel upon the shaft l3 toward the motor I5, thereby opening the door I l and when the motor I5 operates in the reverse direction the carriage 2! will operate upon the shaft I8 in a direction away from themotor I5 thereby closing the door H. The opening and closing of the door I I operates the well known switch construction I2-l3, by which the electricity for the operation or movement of the elevator is controlled. By the provision of the springs 28 an element of safety is created in the present invention which will prevent damage to passengers in the car I0 as well as to the mechanism of the car. Should an obstruction of any kind be interposed in the path of the door I I either in opening or closing, the continued movement of the carriage 2! will be compensated for by the springs 28, thereby preventing damage to the obstruction.

To control the operation of the motor I5 in connection with the limits of the movement of the door I i a cam 32 is secured to the lower end of the carriage 2i and is designed to c'o-act with standard switches 33 mounted on the frame I4. These switches 33 are adjustable and as the carriage 2| reaches the limitof its movement along the shaft 18 in closing or opening the door I I, the cam 32 contacts with either of the switches 33 and regulates the flow of current operating the motor l5 so that when the door is either closed or opened to its limit as determined by the adjustment of the'switches 33, the motor l5 will not continue in its operation;

In all automatic elevators, there is a door upon the car ID as illustrated by the door H and also a door at each floor so that the floor opening is always closed except when a car is positioned at the floor opening. These outer doors acting as closures for the floor opening are each controlled by a latch 34 under the control of a roller 35, which when operated permits the door at the fiooi opening to be opened either from the interior or exterior of the car l0 and which when not operated, causes the outer door to remain locked. These latches 34 are operated by a retiring cam on the car I I] which constitutes a shoe 36 mounted on pivoted parallel levers, 31 carried by the car. If the shoe 36 is projected into the path of a roller 35 it will operate the coacting latch 34 when the car has been positioned at the floor opening, thereby permitting the outer door to be opened. If, however, the shoe or retiring cam 36 is not projected into the path of the roller 35, the position of the latch 34 will remain unaltered and consequently the coacting floor door cannot be opened.

The present invention in addition to automatically opening and controlling the inner door II' of the elevator car I0 is designed to regulate and control the position of the retiring cam or shoe 36, so that when the motor I5 becomes energized to open the door I I after the car has become positioned at the floor opening, the cam or shoe 36 will be positioned for co-action with the roller 35. This is accomplished by a bell crank lever 38 pivoted to the frame I l adjoining the'end thereof adjacent to the shoe or retiring cam 36, One arm of this lever is connected by a link 39 to the upper end of the lever 30, while the opposite arm of the bell crank 38 is connected by a pitman 40 to the shoe or retiring cam 36. Thus when the carriage 2| moves to the right, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the link 39 moves in a similar direction, moving the pitman 40 downwardly thereby lowering the parallel links 31 and forcing the shoe 01' retiring cam 36 into the path of the roller 35. Reversely as the upper end of the lever 36 moves to the left (Fig. 1) a pull is exerted upon the link 39 elevating the pitman 40 and links 31, thereby swinging the shoe or retiring cam 36 away from and out of the path of roller 35. p

From the foregoing it is apparent that the present invention provides an automatic means for opening and closing the door I I carried by the car Ill, which is entirely safe in its operationand which is capable of adjustment to determine of saidbearings to the other, a carriage having threaded co-operation with the threaded shaft aforesaid, rollers projecting from said carriage and disposed above and below the bar aforesaid, a frame carried by said carriage, parallel shafts mounted in said frame, a slide mounted on said shafts, a stud slidably carried by said slide,

springs interposed between said slide and the ends of said frame, a fixed hanger, and a lever pivoted respectively to said slide, said hanger and said door. I

2. The combination with an elevator car, of a door carried thereby, a frame mounted on said car in substantial alignment with said door, a motor mounted on said frame, a threaded shaft driven by said motor in either direction, bearings for said shaft, a bar interposed between said bearings, a carriage having threaded connection with said shaft, rollers projecting from said carriage and disposed above and below said bar, a U-shaped frame carried by said carriage, parallel shafts mounted in the arms of said frame, a slide mounted for reciprocation upon said shafts, springs on said shafts and interposed between the arms of said frame and said slide, a stationary hanger carried by the first said frame, a door operating lever pivoted to said hanger, a slidable pivoted connection between the upper end of said lever and said slide.

3. The combination with an elevator car, of a doorcarried thereby, a'screw threaded shaft mounted'upon the car in substantial alignment with the door, a motor adapted to rotate this shaft in either direction, a carriage adapted to be moved longitudinally of this shaft by means of this rotation, a slide mounted upon said carriage, a stud engaging this slide, a fixed hanger, and a lever being pivoted on this fixed hanger, operatively engaging the door and carrying the aforementioned stud.

CHRISTIAN NIELSEN, 

